Body by Diaz Has a Nice Ring To It

The Body Book by Cameron Diaz was the latest selection from my book club; so recent in fact, we haven’t even met yet to discuss it. This book had been on my list of books to read (love you Amazon wish list) and was glad to have the opportunity to pick the book up. Even have an out if I ended up not liking the book and wanted to dissociate from my selection…” Oh, that, I’m reading it for book club.” I was pretty sure this wasn’t going to be necessary though.

The book itself is conversational in tone and throughout I could hear Diaz talking to me about the importance of daily nutrition and exercise. She herself is very obviously interested in the science behind what makes us healthy, but always presented that interest in a very approachable manner. Not once did it feel like she was talking down to the readers. That was my biggest concern, that I would be turned off by a skinny, pretty actress telling me that all I had to do to be healthy was input fewer calories than I output and voila: magically be healthy and fit and pretty too. This is, thankfully, not that book. While she does extol the math concept of calories, she doesn’t note that it will make you thin and desirable in modern American society terms. What she says is that it’s your best bet for a healthy and functioning body, no matter the visual shape of the body in question. There is no shaming in Diaz’s book. She professes the benefits of whole foods and decries the lack of natural foods in a typical American diet. Her arguments for treating the body you have now to maintain it to be the body you need it to be later are compelling and thoughtful.

Reading this book, I didn’t have any mind blowing revelations or anything. I’ve been actively active for most of my life. None of the information in the book is new or earth shattering, but it is a friendly presentation of the material from a familiar face that I’ve always had a soft spot for. I did notice that I was choosing better foods more often during and after reading it, so I guess there’s that!